Loose pit bulls maul retriever on beach trail

A Laguna Niguel man said Friday that his golden retriever Charlie is lucky to be alive after two loose pit bulls attacked and mauled the pet Thursday on San Clemente’s beach trail.

“It’s horrific,” said Tim Frawley, 57. “Both pit bulls started yanking and pulling and biting and ripping flesh off my dog. My daughter … is screaming, ‘They’re killing him! They’re killing him! He’s going to die right here!’ We both fought tooth and nail with these two dogs to get them off.”

An animal-control officer took Frawley, his 25-year-old daughter Erin Frawley and 9-year-old Charlie to Dr. John Agostini’s veterinary hospital, where Frawley said his dog was in surgery for five hours Thursday evening.

“They tore half his ear off,” Frawley said. “Both of his front legs were severely mangled. He had several patches of flesh missing from his back. They had to cut all his hair off to cleanse the contusions. He is on morphine.”

Blake Anderson, a San Clemente marine-safety officer, said the attack was reported at Marine-Safety Headquarters shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday by a witness asking for help, saying that two loose pit bulls were mangling a retriever near the south entrance to a beach boardwalk that rounds Mariposa Point.

“I had two units respond,” Anderson said. “By the time we got there, it was already over.”

“Animal control is handling,” said sheriff’s Lt. John Coppock, chief of police services in San Clemente. “Two pit bulls got loose from their yard in the 200 block of West Escalones and made it down to the beach trail, where they attacked a retriever.”

Coppock said the pit bulls were placed in quarantine. He said animal control is handling the investigation but he had no further details. Efforts to reach an animal-control officer Friday afternoon were unsuccessful.

Frawley said his daughter was visiting from San Francisco and they decided to walk the beach trail. He said they were walking north from the pier when the two pit bulls suddenly began racing toward them and latched onto Charlie. The Frawleys came away with injuries to their hands.

“It was going on for a good five or 10 minutes,” Tim Frawley said. “I hit the dog in the head with a brick and it didn’t faze him. A good Samaritan was trying to hit them with a rock, but it didn’t faze them. He ended up with a broken thumb.

“My dog is lucky to be alive and we are lucky we don’t have more injuries.”